The Startini from l’étoile in Edgartown
L’étoile is a restaurant tucked behind some verdant hedges on North Water Street in Edgartown. Alongside the dining room there is a classy, bright bar area where bartenders will quickly whip you up the signature drink: the Startini.
The speed has no hint of haphazardness — it’s with a seasoned efficiency that ice is added to a mixing glass, and Svedka citrus vodka, lime, and Cointreau are poured upon it. Pomegranate juice is added and the drink is shaken — not stirred – in a Boston shaker before being poured into a glass, ice free. The drink is topped with champagne and a sliver of starfruit as a garnish.
Bartender Taylor Pierce, of Edgartown, banters with the customers, congratulating a patron on his choice of a martini, “Bond had it down,” he joked. “I do not.”
The Startini is reminiscent of a cool tropical punch except that the “punch” is from the nicely potent alcoholic kick. A delicious, refreshing drink for a hot summer day, the Startini is $13 and available at l’étoile’s bar from 5:30 to 11:30 every night of the week.
l’étoile is located at 22 North Water Street in Edgartown and can be reached at 508-627-5187, or visit letoile.net.
Sinful Chocolate Frappe from Mad Martha’s
To go back in time with a classic drink on a hot summer day, try a frappe from Mad Martha’s.
“Frappe” is the term coined in New England in the 1950s for what everyone everywhere else calls a milkshake. They typically consist of milk, ice cream, and a flavored syrup, sometimes with whipped cream and a cherry on top. (If you ask for a milkshake in New England, all you get is milk and syrup.) Mad Martha’s frappes are a blend of whole milk and three scoops of any of their 25 flavors of ice cream. You can also get it with frozen yogurt.
I had the Sinful Chocolate, which contains crushed up heath bars, and is thick and smooth, sweet and cool, and, above all, chocolatey. But if you would rather stick to the traditional vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry, or any of the other 22 flavors, you can — and you can also mix three flavors together to create a never-before-tried combination. Add an extra scoop on top to turn it into a frappe float.
Although the frappe may not be unique to the Island, it never gets old. The drink costs $5.60, or you can make it a float for $.30 more. Depending on the flavor be sure to grab a spoon for the chunks of cookies and candy that might not fit through your straw.
Mad Martha’s is located in Vineyard Haven (508-693-5883), Oak Bluffs (693-9151), and Edgartown (627-8761).
